Low-Spoiler Curse of Monkey Island Walkthrough

Welcome to my Curse of Monkey Island walk-through. (-: If you're new to my series of low-spoiler computer game walkthroughs, the idea is to point players
towards things they might not have thought of in each game rather than giving away puzzle solutions or offering step-by-step instructions. There's not much
point to playing an adventure game if you know all the puzzle solutions in advance, and there's no point at all in playing a humor game
if you've already had all the jokes spoiled.

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So these pages are as close to spoiler-free as possible. If you are looking for the
solution to a particular puzzle, I recommend the excellent UHS site--you can only see one hint at a time there,
so you can get the answer to one puzzle without ruining all the others for yourself. My website here focuses on exactly the things UHS and traditional
walkthroughs don't: the non-critical parts of the game, little detours you can take, extra details you might miss if you only did what was strictly necessary
to win the game. If you want even fewer spoilers--you're considering whether or not to buy the game, for example, and just want to know whether there's
anything you're going to hate in it--please visit my Curse of Monkey Island Review page to find all
the pertinent information in one convenient spoiler-free package.
Most adventure games are more linear than CRPG's, and Curse of Monkey Island is no exception. It's impossible to miss the vast majority of this
game--if you don't finish all the puzzles in each chapter, you will not be able to move on to the next. You do have the choice of
completing puzzles in more than one order on a few occasions, but there's only one way to solve each of them and only one way to proceed. It IS possible to
miss out on conversations or jokes, though. One way is by not looking at everything in the environment and not choosing every conversational option as
you talk to NPCs. I'm not going to detail that kind of thing here. If you like playing graphic adventure games and you haven't learned to click on everything
in sight yet, you'd better get in that habit soon anyway, and the one-liners will only make it more entertaining to do. There's another way to miss out, though,
and that's solving a puzzle too soon. The game is very well-written from an event-based perspective, and Guybrush and the NPCs will frequently have different
reactions to the gameworld before and after a given puzzle has been solved. Once you solve the puzzle, you won't be able to go back. Here are the main
circumstances in which you could conceivably miss out on something interesting:

Optional Actions in The Curse of Monkey Island

Chapter 1 (The Demise of the Zombie Pirate LeChuck)

*It's possible (though not necessary) to converse with Murray the disembodied skull at this point; it's also possible to offer him his arm back (twice), and/or to knock him
off the plank and into the water (if you do this you can see him out the porthole of the ship later in the chapter.)

Chapter 2 (The Curse Gets Worse)

*The ventriloquism book can be used on most of the characters in this chapter, and it's usually pretty funny. You can use it on the Grim Fandango ad in
the restaurant, too, and Guybrush will make it speak in a Manny-like voice.

*You can give Murray some gum when you meet him in the swamp, and offer to give him his arm back again. Most amusingly of all, you can put paste
on the arm and then offer it back to him, twice. That was one of the funniest exchanges in the game, IMHO. ;-D You can also use the ventriloquism book
on him anytime.

*If you want to talk to Rottingham, you need to do it before solving the puzzle with the comb; otherwise you won't see him again till Chapter 3. This
goes for using the ventriloquism book on him, too. (Unlike most NPCs, you can use the ventriloquism book on Rottingham more than once and get a few
different responses.)

*There's a whole sequence with Kenny the lemonade boy that you'll miss if you just swap mugs without first trying to buy some lemonade from him.
(Guybrush sure gets huffy about it considering that the nickel the boy swindled him out of is FAKE ANYWAY, but what the heck, the kid is
pretty annoying.) If you want to use the ventriloquism book on him you'll have to do it after buying some lemonade, but before swapping the mugs.

*The two actors have a long spiel that you can miss if you don't talk to them fully before messing around with the lights. Same goes for the ventriloquism book.

*You will miss some conversation with the cabana boy if you show him your membership card before exhausting your conversational options.
You need to use the ventriloquism book on him after talking to him about membership, but before showing him the card.

*You can miss some conversation with Palido if you solve the tanning puzzle too quickly; he falls asleep after you solve that one and doesn't
wake up again in this chapter. You also need to use the ventriloquism book before he falls asleep, too.

*If you read the plaque on the pappapishu bush in the quicksand, telling you that "pappapishu" is a native word for "youch," Guybrush and every
NPC from then on will say "Pappapishu!" instead of "Youch!" whenever they are injured. (-:

*While you are tarred and feathered, the inhabitants of the island will have amusing reactions to you. Be sure to visit all of them before going into
Blondebeard's--in particular, Murray the skull and Kenny the lemonade kid have funny responses. Don't worry about Palido, he'll always be
asleep if you go over there tarred and feathered regardless of whether you've rolled him over yet or not.

*You will miss the sequence in which Haggis beats Guybrush at the caber toss if you mess around with the keg and the tree before challenging him once, and
you will miss the sequence in which Van Helgen defeats Guybrush in a duel if you don't choose the pistols as your weapon at least once. There's also
a sequence in which he beats Guybrush at dueling banjos if you miss a note, but you're bound to see that one as you try to get used to the banjo interface
(it's a bit on the awkward side.)

Chapter 3 (Three Sheets to the Wind)

This is an extended strategy-game interlude. The only real conversations you can have are with Haggis and Kenny, and the only interaction you're likely to miss
is an amusing exchange if you jerk Haggis around by changing your mind about hard and easy combat modes. Everything else in the game is a matter of simple
realtime ship combat (my six-year-old son handled it okay on the 'easy' level,) scooting back and forth to town to power your weapons up, and playing a rhyming
game with the other pirates as you fight them. Don't forget to return to town every time you get treasure so that you can get new cannons and empty your hold out.
If you win all your rhyme contests too quickly, you'll never learn some of the rhymes you need to defeat Rottingham; if this happens to you, just re-engage
the weaker pirates and purposefully mess up your own rhymes so that they'll have a chance to use theirs on you.

Chapter 4 (The Bartender, The Thieves, His Aunt, and Her Lover)

*If you solve the volcano puzzle before waking the bartender up, you'll miss a whole slew of conversation with him. None of it's critical, but some may amuse you.

*You should talk to the cannibal fully before putting on the tofu mask; you won't get a chance to have that conversation again once you show him the tofu.

*There's a hole in Aunt Minnie's tomb that will give you a funny flashback to the old DOS games if you poke your head through. (-:

Chapter 5 (The Kiss of the Spider Monkey)

This is a short chapter (if you don't count the long conversation with LeChuck at the beginning of it,) and there's not much you could miss here.

*It is possible to mix up snow cones with the other things in your inventory, like the tofu or the paste, as well as the three things you need to mix together

Chapter 6 (Guybrush Kicks Butt Yet Again)

There is nothing optional in this chapter, and nothing you could conceivably skip. There is only one puzzle to be solved, and the game ends once you've
solved it, so you can't do anything in a sub-optimal order. You're also not allowed to interact with anything in the dioramas (including Wally, who Guybrush
inexplicably decides not to release to prevent you from interacting with.)